Thai Rath reporter 'threatened for corruption report'

[wolf5370]

Good luck to him - smart move publicising the police report. Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein, Frank Serpico, etc - corruption is often undermined by one or two individuals - the only real problem here, is that the highlighted corruption was a shock to the masses and the outrage was what caused the change (the retirement of a President and, if not for Ford, the first President sent to jail straight out of office! - and a major crack down on corruption in NYPD) - here everyone knows and accepts corruption, no enraged response, more of just a meh!

[A1Str8]

I do not agree with the mai pen rai attitude neither I said do not do anything against corruption. Do everything they can against it, I was not suggesting otherwise. But the people who do have the power to change the situation are the ones who are corrupt and evil and it is in their best interest to maintain the status quo. That is the very reason nothing is changing. All I was saying is that unfortunately a journalist or some average joe is not going to change anything. When they try to do so, they are going to be dealt with. Just think about that military guy back in 2010 who was ordered to shut up but he didn't and arranged an interview with an american journalist to provide info he was not supposed to. He was executed by a sniper while being interviewed.

Again, I am not saying that one should act like a sheep and say nothing. I simply stated a fact regarding to how it works.

Sent from one of my devices using the internet

[TackyToo]

The police have documented the telephone number of the text messages for further investigation

Real cops would have already made a visit to the owner of the phone... Wasn't one of the head honchos so proud of the fact that the BIB can track down every phone already? But maybe they call the number and ask the owner if it's convenient for him/her to come to the police station next Wednesday between Four and Five to have a friendly chat.

And how will you be able to do that if its a prepaid number? If the sim card was bought at a 711 used once and discarded you can't trace it.

That's why you did not qualify for the job with the NSA...

[timewilltell]

This is the very same police station where the senior police officer demanded 45,000 baht to formally arrest a criminal with a court issued arrest warrant and where I had taken said criminal to the police desk in that police station.

The police here are utter scum. I don't think the reporter will get much help from that bunch but then again he is Thai so maybe.

[paz]

The police have documented the telephone number of the text messages for further investigation

Real cops would have already made a visit to the owner of the phone... Wasn't one of the head honchos so proud of the fact that the BIB can track down every phone already? But maybe they call the number and ask the owner if it's convenient for him/her to come to the police station next Wednesday between Four and Five to have a friendly chat.

Hmm..to track down SIMs sold over the counter.. it takes a Super Cop not a Real Cop.

[paz]

This is the very same police station where the senior police officer demanded 45,000 baht to formally arrest a criminal with a court issued arrest warrant and where I had taken said criminal to the police desk in that police station.

The police here are utter scum. I don't think the reporter will get much help from that bunch but then again he is Thai so maybe.

Maybe that is just a way to make the threats known and documented. Not that he expects any real help.

[tingtongteesood]

Good on him for doing his job well, this is the kind of thing reporters are supposed to do. The police have the number for the phone the threats came from, they should be able to trace it in 10 mins and maybe knock on the evil bastards door in a couple of hours, sadly they will probably do neither of these things as it wastes their valuable tea money extorting time...The joys of living in a third world country ruled by gangsters and criminals, I sometimes wonder why I want to be here....?

[paz]

Good on him for doing his job well, this is the kind of thing reporters are supposed to do. The police have the number for the phone the threats came from, they should be able to trace it in 10 mins and maybe knock on the evil bastards door in a couple of hours, sadly they will probably do neither of these things as it wastes their valuable tea money extorting time...The joys of living in a third world country ruled by gangsters and criminals, I sometimes wonder why I want to be here....?

Another one with little grip on reality but of course full of trite ready judgment,

Once again, if you check you will find that SIMs (that the thing that mainly identifies your phone) can be bought anonymously in Thailand.

That means that assuming the SIM has be bought for the purpose, to trace the person that made them LE has to couple the SIM to a phone IMEI, then in turn trace all calls made/received from that IMEI with other SIMs (there may be none if it was a phone bought for the purpose then discarded), until some is found to an identifiable contact, that they have to shake to get to know who he was talking or texting with.

They can also get to know what is the tower where phone and SIM were located at the time the SMS were sent, but a tower can cover tens of thousand people in a dense area, and even if greater accuracy is possible corssing data from adjacent towers, that is even more difficult and complicated.

As you can see, all that is complicated, expensive (telco charges to do this), and not exactly rewarding for the cops to do.

Edited September 21, 2013 by paz

[EyesWideOpen]

I have often wondered about the paucity of investigative reporting here. Now I know why ????

Clearly the piggies are not happy about light being shone upon the feeding trough...

[FarangTalk]

And where is Yingluck's anti corruption drive / people?

If they were serious they would have quickly been vocal about this item, but there is no comment.

Do we really expect in this case like many others concerning the conduct of ministers , politicians, the police, the military and government officials that ''Pot will call the Kettle Black?''

No the ''High Speed Gravy Train has got a fast line non stop run, green lights all the way to the corrupt pockets and ultimately the puppet master.

Newsflash for the obsessives; Thailand was corrupt long before and will be corrupt long after the "puppet master" is gone.

[FarangTalk]

Criticism of anyone rich and powerful in Thailand brings long jail sentences or violent retribution.

The only thing more 'free' about Thailand than the West is the ability to commit crime and get away with it.

There's good reasons why Thais don't criticise those who they perceive to be above them, and regard us Westerners as ill-mannered when we don't tolerate stupidity and ignorance from anyone in their societal structure, regardless of their wealth or status.

Ultimately, it's a flaw with the culture here.

You can't have your cake and eat it too. The backhanders to Police and the easy life of petty criminality and prostitution and a corruption-free society with a functioning Police force and justice system and accountable politicians are not compatible I'm afraid.

[monkeycountry]

The police have documented the telephone number of the text messages for further investigation

Real cops would have already made a visit to the owner of the phone... Wasn't one of the head honchos so proud of the fact that the BIB can track down every phone already? But maybe they call the number and ask the owner if it's convenient for him/her to come to the police station next Wednesday between Four and Five to have a friendly chat.

And how will you be able to do that if its a prepaid number? If the sim card was bought at a 711 used once and discarded you can't trace it.

True, but the message can still be matched with the phone, even if the message has been deleted on the phone, the history has been deleted and the simcard replaced. and since they have a good idea who sent the message, checking their phones might help. Odds are they are too stingy/stupid to discard the phone and therefore still have it Edited September 22, 2013 by monkeycountry